Michaels Launches “Community Classroom” Across All Stores in Partnership with AnyRoad

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Michaels Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIK) today announced the national
launch of Community Classroom, an educational, collaborative workspace
program designed to transform Michaels classrooms into true community
“Making Spaces” for instructors and Makers across the country.

In late 2018, Michaels partnered with AnyRoad,
the leader in Experience Relationship Management (ERM), to launch the
transformative in-store customer experience program in six test markets.
Starting in March 2019, Michaels will expand the program to all stores
across the United States and Canada. Community Classroom will support
local Makers and provide them with a new way to teach what they love and
connect within their community. Makers are invited to submit potential
class proposals online at www.michaels.com/instructors.
All Community Classroom classes will utilize discounted Michaels
products which can be purchased either in-store or online, and beginning
later this month, customers will be able to sign up online to take
Community Classroom classes in local markets.

“We are excited to launch this program nationwide and embrace Makers in
a new way,” said Steve Carlotti, Executive Vice President – Marketing of
The Michaels Companies. “As an experiential business, this is yet
another example of the innovative approach that supports the importance
of locally driven curriculum and encourages creatives to consider
Michaels classrooms as their own. As the sharing economy continues to
grow, we believe this program will allow us to offer more on-trend,
tailored courses that will attract local customers and ultimately build
a stronger community for Makers at Michaels.”

AnyRoad provides Michaels with a frictionless platform to offer unique
and memorable in-store customer experiences that organically build
relationships and deepen positive brand association with Michaels.
AnyRoad also enables Michaels with real-time analytics to facilitate
data-based decisions in managing the entire Community Classroom program
— optimizing the experiential marketing program from end to end. The
in-store, community-led educational program enables local instructors to
develop their own classroom curriculum, make their own schedules, set
their own class prices and market their own classes to create
independent sources of income, all within the ultimate creative
environment of their local Michaels store.

“We are excited to work with Michaels to help bring this
first-of-its-kind program to life,” said Daniel Yaffe, AnyRoad’s COO and
Co-Founder. “Experiential marketing is one of the most crucial aspects
of building long-lasting brand loyalty, especially at a time in the
experience economy when consumers are keen to establish loyalty with
their favorite companies. Together with Michaels, we are enhancing the
instructor and customer experiences and enabling the Michaels brand to
build better, long-term relationships with their wide variety of
customers.”

The Michaels Companies, Inc. is North America's largest specialty
provider of arts, crafts, framing, floral, wall décor, and seasonal
merchandise for Makers and do-it-yourself home decorators. The Company
operates more than 1,200 Michaels stores in 49 states and Canada.
Additionally, the Company serves customers through a variety of digital
platforms including Michaels.com, consumercrafts.com and
aaronbrothers.com. The Michaels Companies, Inc., also owns Artistree, a
manufacturer of high quality custom and specialty framing merchandise,
and Darice, a premier wholesale distributor in the craft, gift and decor
industry. For a list of store locations or to shop online, visit www.michaels.com
or download the Michaels app.

About AnyRoad

AnyRoad is an Experience Relationship Management (ERM) platform enabling
global brands to properly measure, scale, and implement their
experiential marketing campaigns. AnyRoad helps companies create brand
loyalty, change consumer behavior, and better understand their brand
associations by providing them with data intelligence sourced from
experience-based marketing. Companies like Budweiser, Honda, Michaels,
and AEG all count on AnyRoad to measure the impact of their experiential
marketing activations. AnyRoad’s software integrates into CRM, loyalty,
ERP, and POS systems to complete the loop, building the model of exactly
how these experiences build loyalty, increase brand perception, and
increase revenue. The company was founded by brothers Jonathan and
Daniel Yaffe and is based in San Francisco. To learn more, please visit https://www.anyroad.com/.